


The Other Story

by SeleneU



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Misunderstandings, mention of incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 09:22:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14746131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeleneU/pseuds/SeleneU
Summary: Brienne Tarth meets the new Division Head, who happens to be the founder's son. A misunderstanding brings them together and another, might pull them apart





	The Other Story

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GumTree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GumTree/gifts).



> Thanks so much to catherineflowers. She is an amazing writer and an incredible beta. Her input was invaluable.  
> I wanted a story where Jaime isn't the one to pursue Brienne once he realizes he's got the hots for her. I also wanted a story where Brienne is a little more bold and is the one doing most of the pursuing.  
> This is what came up.  
> I gift this to GumTree. She knows why.

She knew she was staring, but Brienne couldn’t help herself.

The man was just…

Handsome would be an understatement.

She had never seen a man as beautiful as Jaime Lannister. As she stood in the crowded meeting room of Lannister Corp, Brienne barely heard her boss introduce the new addition to the company. It wasn’t as if people didn’t know who he was. He was Jaime Lannister, eldest son of CEO Tywin Lannister, the golden boy.

At first people rolled the eyes at the name of the new head division ehen it was first announced last week. Of course, it would be a Lannister, shit over anyone who had been in the company for years and worked their way up, just give it to the boss’ son. But then Barristan Selmy had read off his bio, and it was impressive. Graduated with honors top of his class from King’s Landing University, Masters in Economics, PhD in Business Administration and Finance, internships at some of the top financial and trust management companies in Westeros, head of Department, Regional VP. Jaime Lannister had established himself a reputation outside his father’s company, and that alone made people respect him.

What Brienne and the other employees didn’t know was just how gorgeous he was. Impeccably dressed in a gray suit, his blond hair slicked back, the man looked a like film star. She saw him smile politely as Selmy welcomed him aboard, laying the praise on a little bit too thick for good measure. Suddenly, Brienne saw his green eyes stop on her for a moment, and hold her stare. She couldn’t look away from the intensity of his gaze but more because she thought she saw in his eyes not just curiosity but also a bit of mistrust and…

Fear?

As he finally looked away, Brienne reflected on how absurd that was. With his credentials, not to mention his family ties, Jaime Lannister probably went through life fearing nothing, least of all someone like her, not very high up in the ranks and not to mention lacking in looks. Brienne had managed to overcome most of the insecurities of her past, the scorn of her schoolmates about her height, the mockery of the men who dated her just because they thought she was an easy lay. But they occasionally came back to haunt her particularly on lonely nights at home, where she lay awake thinking that it would be nice to have someone hold her, someone to hold.

 ***

“Can you believe how fucking hot that man is?” Lollys Stokeworth hissed in her ear as she and Brienne made their way to the breakroom after the meeting. “I swear, I’ve never been for workplace affairs, but if Jaime Lannister offered, I would be on my back faster than a melting snow cone.”

Brienne rolled her eyes in contempt, even though she had been thinking the exact same thing. She wasn’t about to admit it to Lollys. “Please,” she said dismissively.

Lollys stared at her with an amused look on her face. “Oh, like you wouldn’t? I love it when you act so high and mighty, Brienne. I saw you staring at him in the meeting, just like we all were. So don’t even try.”

Brienne felt a hot flush creep over her face. “Of course I was looking at him,” she mumbled embarrassed. “The man is…gorgeous. But that doesn’t mean I would readily sleep with him.”

Lollys laughed loudly at her words. “Sure. I mean, who would want a rich, sexy as sin guy in their bed, right? And smart as fuck to boot. I can see where you’re conflicted, Brienne.”

She felt herself getting even redder at Lollys’ teasing, and had no idea how to end this conversation which was rapidly becoming borderline innapropriate to have in the breakroom. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t…I mean…I just meant…” She couldn’t find the words she was looking for.

Damn it! She hated when that happened. It just took her back to when she was an insecure, nothing person back in Tarth, affected by taunts and teases of people who just wanted to constantly make her feel worthless. It wasn’t to say that she still didn’t carry some demons. But she had a better grasp of who she was in life, and these days she didn’t become easily tongue-tied or intimidated.

Lollys moved closer and gave her a wicked grin. “Come on, Brienne, confess. You would fuck him if you could. You know you would. Come on admit it. Say it!”

Brienne couldn’t help giggling at Lollys’ insistence and she kind of liked being part of this “girl talk.” She didn’t exactly have a lot of friends. “Fine, ok! If it’s so important to you Lollys, yes. I admit, I would fuck Jaime Lannister in a minute if I could. He’s a hot piece of ass I would definitely want in my bed.”

***

Jaime sat down in his office chair with a deep sigh. He looked outside the huge pictures windows of his office and saw the city laid out before him, bathed in beautiful twilight colors and couldn’t help be in awe of it. But then he clenched his jaw remembering what that woman had said and it brought his anger back in waves.

Jaime didn’t know why this particular woman’s words had shaken him so much. He didn’t even know her name, or which department she worked in, but he remembered her eyes. He remembered staring at them in the conference room and thinking he had never seen such blue, calming, innocent, noble.

So much for that shit.

It did please him that the tall woman had been rightly embarrassed by her words, if her red face and shamefully hung head as he walked out of the break room were any indication. It didn’t matter, though. He would ignore her and her ugly words just like he ignored all the rest.

She was just more of the same.

The movie was exactly the mindless plot she was craving, but Brienne couldn’t bring herself to focus in the slightest. The afternoon events kept haunting her, circling around in her mind. How could she have been that careless? That stupid?

That…vulgar?

The minute she saw Jaime Lannister eye her like she was nothing more than a roach on the floor, she felt like she was nothing. All the feelings of being mocked and laughed at when she was younger came rushing back, but this time she deserved it How many times had she cried over people judging her for her looks, her height? And now she had done the exact same thing, and to a department head, no less.

Tywin Lannister’s son.

_Fuck!_

She closed her eyes, not wanting to imagine what would be waiting for her on Monday.

Maybe she should resign with dignity?

It seems like her childhood septa was right. She really was stupid on top of having been cursed with “unfortunate looks.”

Brienne felt the tears well up and spill down her cheeks. She allowed them to fall freely and wet the front of her shirt, doing nothing to wipe them , and thinking how tragic it was that after all the years of proving people how wrong they were in dismissing her, she had been the one to prove them right in thinking her a joke.

***

“Brienne, you’ll fill Mr. Lannister in on the Craster trust? You’re the one that’s been working closely with Craster’s family and can give him all the details he might need to move forward.”

 _Gods, please no_. Brienne argued back and forth with Selmy, but to no avail. She went to Jaime Lannister’s office with the feeling of someone that’s already been condemned to die.

 

Jaime saw her hovering in the door. Fuck, was she the one in charge of the Craster trust? Of course she would be, precisely the one person in Lannister Corp he never wanted to see again. He took a deep breath, silently commanding his face into an impassive expression.

He would not allow this woman to see how deep his fears ran.

***

After he waved her in, Brienne felt a bit more at ease at only discussing Craster and the cluster-fuck of heirs not to mention tax issues. She couldn’t help but be impressed by Jaime’s sharp mind and his willingness to learn as he allowed her to take the lead knowing that Brienne was more experienced with the case than he was.

It almost felt nice.

As they wrapped up the meeting, Brienne turned from the door ordering herself to not be a coward, to make things right

“Friday…what I said. I’m so sorry, Mr. Lannister, I never meant…”

“Jaime,” he said stoically. “My name is Jaime. Mr. Lannister is my father. And don’t apologize, Brienne. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. To many people, I’m just a pretty face. That’s nothing new to me.”

Brienne blinked, shame once again rushing in the form of a furious blush. She despised not being able to control that. “I assure you, I don’t…”

Jaime held up a hand. “It’s fine, we’re good. I’m sorry Brienne, I have a lot to get done here.”

She nodded and turned away, feeling Jaime’s eyes on her as she left.

***

Brienne looked for a place to eat in the outdoor picnic tables on the company grounds. She sighed with impatience as all the tables were taken. She was about to give up and have lunch at her desk when she saw Jaime eating by himself, an array of folders around his food. Brienne hesitated, telling herself it wasn’t a good idea, but nevertheless she began moving directly towards him

“Hi, is it ok if I sit here?” she asked quietly as Jaime looked up in surprise. “I’m so sorry, I wouldn’t ask, but there aren’t any tables left, and I was hoping to―”

“Go ahead,” he said looking at her but seeming to look right through her. “It’s not mine.”

They ate in silence for several minutes, not looking at each other. Brienne wanted to talk to him, to show him that she wasn’t just an office airhead talking about men’s bodies and how she wanted them in her bed. But initiating had never been her strong point, and Brienne was immediately tongue-tied.

“I’m a foreign film fan,” he said suddenly, making her jump. “Bravoos, I think has the best directors, especially when it comes to making you think. But I enjoy most of them in general.”

“Uh, me too. I really liked that new one, directed by that guy whose ancestor belonged to the Night’s Watch?”

Jaime looked at her. “I haven’t seen that yet. Tell me about it.”

Brienne blushed under his scrutinizing gaze. “I don’t want to spoil it for you.”

He gave her a smile, and gods, she felt like she was being pulled in a million different directions from that smile alone.

‘That’s easy,” he said. “Don’t tell me how it ends.”

***

They fell into a kind of friendship after that. They saw some films together, commented them during long discussions over coffee afterwards, agreeing with the same ones they liked or disliked more often than not.

She heard murmurings about her relationship with Jaime. Sometimes harmless teasing ones from Lollys, other times, vicious rumors started by co-workers who had never liked her for one reason or another . How she pretended to like films just to be closed to him. How she was delusional thinking he would ever be interested in her. How she was a long list of colorful names: gold-digger, ugly, cunt.

Brienne ignored all of it, hoping it would never get back to Jaime. She enjoyed his company way too much, and while Brienne had no expectations of anything else, she treasured the friendship she had managed to find with him, since she didn’t have anyone in King’s Landing besides Lollys.

He was smart, sharp and she was increasingly impressed with his intelligence rather than his looks. Their conversations about work spun into detailed but animated lectures about finance, numbers and capital budgets. It was her passion too, and in him she found a companion of her love of numbers, their order and how they made sense of everything.

They go to see foreign films at least once a week. One night, sitting in the dark theater, Brienne shifts in her seat towards him with the intention of mentioning how incredible the Winterfell set is, and she finds Jaime staring intently at her. He immediately looks flustered and turns away, and Brienne is perplexed at his reaction.

Brienne was adamant in keeping and preserving their friendship. Jaime wasn’t her direct boss, so there was no conflict. But they still made it seem like she was on a mission to climb the corporate ladder by sleeping with Jaime Lannister.

But she could deal with the office bullying, the names and the nasty rumors.

It sure as hell wasn’t the first time.

***

It wasn’t long before rumors of Jaime and his sister began. Incest was the word whispered in bathrooms and over lunch trays, dragged in text messages and hallway gossip. Jaime seemed immune to all of it, apparently undisturbed at the revelation of an online society gossip site.

She could never ask him, would never. But Brienne noticed their conversations laxing, Jaime’s long silences and haunted expression.

She wouldn’t ask him, but she’d be there for him.

***

“It’s all true,” Jaime told her one day over coffee after watching a film about two cousins in love who ran away to be together only to be killed in a fiery car crash. She saw his tears, but said nothing not wanting to spoil anything between them.

“What’s true?” she asked, and he shot her a hard look, his eyes defying her lousy attempt at cluelessness.

“Do you want to tell me?” she asked tentatively, unwilling to push the topic. ‘You don’t have to if you don’t…”

Jaime looked into her eyes briefly before taking her hand. “I do. I want to tell you everything.”

***

Trust was difficult for Jaime. He had trusted Cersei and she had humiliated him until it was no longer fun, choosing to marry a drunk only for his money while fucking countless men on the side. Oh yes, he knew about her affairs. Tywin had ordered him to keep away from his twin, arguing that it would be best until the rumors died down. His father had never bothered to ask if the rumors were actually true, but the way he looked at Jaime made him think that his father suspected, even if he said otherwise.

Ironically, the woman who he despised on site had become his only friend. And it had only taken a short time to understand that there was so much more to her than what she had seemed upon their first encounter. Brienne was smart, insightful, clever, funny and surprisingly shy even though she tried to mask it with jokes that came out all wrong.

He had been skittish at first, reluctant to let her get so close to him. But she won him over by sitting with him at lunch, talking to him about films they both liked and listening to what he had to say.

Finally, somebody cared about what he thought, what he felt.

About him.

So, he told her.

***

He tells her about Cersei, how it started and how it ended. He tells her about the children who are his children but at the same time not, because legally they belong to another man. How he’s never been allowed to provide for them, be with them, comfort them. How Cersei has banned him from her home, her life, afraid as usual that someone would figure out the truth.

Brienne listens, frankly horrified but trying her best not to show it. Her mind tries to process what he’s just told her at the same speed the words come out of her mouth. A relationship with his own sister, children born from their union who believed their father was another man. It was all too much, and Brienne could feel her head pounding, attempting to understand that they were kids when it all began, that they had just lost their mother, that he and Cersei were looking for solace and comfort in the wake of tragedy.

But all of that is lost when another explanation nudges at her, and even though she knows it’s not true, her lips are quick to spew the words.

“Was it always… consensual?” she asks.

Jaime’s face hardens at her words. “Was it always consensual?” He repeats her question while his eyes turn dark with anger. “What the fuck are you saying, Brienne? Are you asking me if I raped her?”

Brienne knows she’s made a mistake, understands what she’s accusing him of. “No! Of course not. Jaime, I’m so sorry, I swear I

 She stands up quietly from the couch and makes her way to the door, not looking back so Jaime won’t see the tears of shame beginning to run down her face.

Once outside, Brienne looks back at Jaime’s building knowing she will never step inside again. Knowing that there will be no more films, no more cafes, no more talks

Her childhood septa was right in telling her she is worthless, stupid and ridiculous. Jaime was the only person to see her differently, and she destroyed their friendship with her absurd accusation.

Brienne turns and walks away from the building, her heart broken in a million pieces but this time, it’s her own damn fault.

***

She tries to speak to him at work, between meetings and reports. He is professional, courteous even, but cuts her off at the pass when she pauses and begins to utter an apology or asks for a chance to explain. Jaime’s response is always the same: “I have a lot to do here and so do you, Brienne. If there’s nothing else, I really would like to get back to work.”

Her response is always an embarrassed nod, barely able to look him in the face.

***

One day she comes into the office, and Jaime isn’t in the morning meeting. After a while, Selmy announced that Jaime had gone to Braavos to oversee the purchase of one their new subsidiaries there, and that it would most likely be a three month stay. Brienne doesn’t hear the rest. She doesn’t know what is more painful: Jaime being there and refusing to speak to her, or to have him gone and not see him at all.

She sends him emails, texts, apologizing again. She says to give her a chance, that she didn’t mean her words, that she was stupid. That she knows that he is a man of honor, that she has known no better man with the exception perhaps of her father. Brienne asks for one more chance, her requests border on begging because she is desperate. She misses him, misses her friend, misses the man she has secretly and foolishly fallen in love with.

All her texts and messages go unanswered, her calls to Jaime end up in the void of a voicemail.

 _It’s time to stop_ , she thinks to herself. The best she can do now is to leave him alone. Their relationship will never be fixed, it will never mend. She’s destroyed it for good, and she will just have to learn to live with that.

***

His return is unannounced. One day Brienne walks by his office, and sees him sitting at his desk, a look of furious concentration on his face. She tells herself that she should respect his wishes and leave him alone. That she should just accept that he wants nothing to do with her, that his trust in her is broken.

But she finds herself stepping forward and knocking on his door.

***

Jaime looks up, his focus torn from financial statements and fund reports. This is why he loves numbers. They make sense, they’re order in a world full of chaos. Numbers make him feel safe.

But seeing Brienne standing there, an expectant and unsure look in her blue eyes when she finally looks up from the floor at his face, his world is upended once again. Her mistrust and judgement hurt him deeply, more than he would ever admit to her. He believed she would understand the truth without automatic condemnation and assumption, but he’d been wrong.

Jaime hoped that whatever she had to say would be brief and then he could go back to the haven of his quarterly reports.

***

Brienne feels like a fool standing there and saying nothing at all, but she really doesn’t know how to begin. They look at each other for what feels like minutes, and then Jaime starts picking up his laptop and reports, stuffing them in this case.

“I’m sorry Brienne, but I have to run. If it’s about the Tully trust, we can discuss..”

“No, it’s not about that. I just…can we talk? Please? I promise I won’t take long.”

Jaime looks at his watch and seems about to make an excuse. But he surprises her.

“I can stay a few minutes. What is it you want to talk about Brienne?”

His sudden willingness has her scrambling for words. However, she refuses to become tongue tied this time or to let herself stumble.

She attempts small talk first, but Jaime looks pointedly at his watch again, so she has no choice but to take the direct approach, which really scares her.

“Jaime, I just want to say that I’m truly sorry. I never meant to hurt you or to say that I believed that in any way you―” She chokes then, the ugly words she had said to him sticking in her throat. “It was a knee-jerk reaction. From memories of all the times men have mocked me, tried to toy with me, made bets on who could take my virginity, publicly humiliated me.” Brienne feels her eyes welling up with tears but refuses to cry.

 _She must do this_.

“What I said was stupid and thoughtless, but I didn’t mean it Jaime. And I want nothing more than to have your friendship back. I miss you so much, and I…” She can’t help that her voice is shaking from the effort of keeping the tears from falling. “I just want things to be like before.” Brienne looks at Jaime, begging him with her eyes to understand how much she needs his forgiveness. “Please, can we try again?”

Jaime’s eyes stare intently at her, and Brienne feels that perhaps there is hope. Finally, stands up from his chair.

“I accept your apology Brienne. And I understand why you said what you did.” Jaime takes a deep breath, his gaze tired as he looks at her. “But I really don’t think we can go back to…before. I’m sorry.”

She feels crushed. Like her heart has split in pieces which know beat erratically inside her chest. “Jaime, please, just give me another chance, I’ll never…”

Jaime holds up a hand interrupting her. “I know you won’t, but that’s not the point. Brienne, I trusted you with something I had never told anyone. I expected you to be shocked, even maybe disgusted. I never thought you would accuse me of something so heinous, so vile.”

Brienne opened her mouth to protest, but again he stopped her. “I understand know why you did it, but there’s something between us that was torn Brienne, and I don’t think we can get it back. I’m sorry.

She digs her nails into her palms hard enough to cause pain to keep from crying. Brienne nods her understanding, knows that she’s said all she can.

“I’ll see you around then, Jaime,” she says sadly.

He looks as miserable as she feels. “I’ll see you around then, Brienne.”

She gives him a shadow of a smile, and leaves.

***

Once she’s home, Brienne finally breaks down and cries for what seems like hours. Emotionally wrung out and in a daze, she changes out of her clothes, and puts on a pair of flannel pajamas and an old t-shirt. Brienne never drinks, but tonight she’s changing that.

She grabs a bottle of wine that she used to keep for Jaime from the fridge and pours herself a glass, drinking it rapidly almost without tasting it.

Pouring herself another, Brienne carries her wine to the living room and turns on the T. V., mindlessly flipping the remote. She finds nothing worth watching and finally settles on the home shopping channel. It provides the white noise and senseless images she craves right now.

The host, a leggy brunette with a low-cut blouse that shows off her very obviously enhanced breasts, holds a DVD set in her hand, babbling excitedly about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Brienne’s curiosity is peaked enough to pay attention, and even more so when she realizes that it’s a collector’s set of old black-and-white films, many the ones she and Jaime used to talk about wanting to see.

She feels her eyes watering again, and furiously brushes the tears away with a fist. She stares off into space for a while before grabbing her phone.

***

_Two weeks later_

She doesn’t see much of Jaime. Quarterly reviews are due and Selmy is pushing for everyone to have presentations ready for the board of directors, which includes Tywin Lannister himself. Jaime’s younger brother Tyrion sits on the board, but rarely attends meetings and Cersei Lannister is not involved in the family business at all, for which Brienne feels a bit grateful.  Rumors speculate that the Lannister patriarch has ordered that his daughter is to not be involved with the company.

After a grueling day of presentations and meetings, Brienne returns to her office wanting to sit down and recoup for a bit before heading home. It takes a second for her to see it on her desk, the DVD set she had ordered and sent to Jaime with a note reading:

_I saw these and thought of you._

_I hope you enjoy them._

_B._

Brienne can literally hear her heart breaking again in the wake of this new rejection. She should have known better. She should have respected his wishes to stay away instead of seeming desperate and overbearing. That box sitting on her desk is like a reminder of everything she could have had if she hadn’t been so fucking stupid, so thoughtless, so quick to jump to conclusions.

But she had never thought him guilty, that was the truth. She hadn’t lied when she told him that, but he clearly didn’t believe a word of it. Brienne sighs deeply, and went over to pick the box up and put it in her bag to return the next day.

As she lifts it, a piece of paper falls which had been teetering on the edge of the box. Brienne thinks at first that Jaime has even thought to return her note, when she realizes it’s in his handwriting, which she instantly recognizes.

_These are not much fun to watch alone._

_Can you come over tonight after work? I’ll be here._

The note is unsigned, and Brienne doesn’t know what to make of it. Part of her is joyous at the prospect of seeing him, but there’s another part of her, a prideful part, that feels she shouldn’t run at his beck and call, that she should at least have a little pride.

But she knows the rift between them was her doing and if she wants Jaime back, even as a friend, she must be the one to make amends. He was extending a hand, and fuck if she wasn’t going to grasp it with all she had.

***

She makes her way to his apartment building, the  set secure in her bag. Each step makes her more nervous, more anxious. But he wouldn’t have told her to come over if he didn’t want to see her, right? That had to be something at least.

***

Brienne knocks timidly at his door after being sent up by the concierge and after a few seconds Jaime opens it. They stare at each other for a while and then he tells her to come inside, his voice warm but his face showing nothing at all. She begins to think that this was a bad idea, waves away his offer for a drink. He gestures at her to sit and they’re now side by side on the couch in uncomfortable silence, barely making eye contact.

Brienne thinks that enough is enough, she won’t make this harder for him or force Jaime to have her there when he clearly doesn’t feel at ease in her presence anymore.

She opens her mouth to tell him this, but he surprises her when he takes her hand. Brienne looks at him expectantly and he starts to speak.

“I know that I said our friendship couldn’t go back to what it was, but I’ve been thinking about everything you said. I understand that you never meant to hurt me, Brienne.” Jaime says in a voice, barely above a whisper. “Before you sent me that DVD set, I was already thinking of calling you, of asking you to come over. And then you sent me this,” he touches the box peeking from her purse. “I needed to tell you that I want you  in my life again, if it isn’t too late.”

She feels a weight lift from her chest, relief washing warmly over her. He goes on telling her how angry he was, that he felt betrayed at how she so easily condemned him. But he’s had time to think and to put himself in her place, and understands now how it might have been confusing for her to understand his relationship with Cersei. He looks at her apologetically and says that in accusing her of violating his trust, he had been the one to judge her unfairly without giving her a chance to explain her reaction.

***

Brienne can’t speak, can’t breathe. When she finally takes a breath it’s shaky, relieved and so damn happy all at the same time. Her thoughts and words are jumbled in her head and she feels stupid at not being able to articulate anything coherent. Jaime squeezes her hand, looking directly into her eyes with such intensity that for a split second she wants to almost turn and flee from him. He stretches out his other hand towards her face, tilting her chin until she has no choice but to look in his eyes.

“That night, when I confessed to you, I was going to tell you that I was starting to have feelings for you, feelings beyond just a friendship. But then, you said what you said…and I thought that if you believed those things about me, then you couldn’t possibly feel the same way. I think that’s what hurt the most,” Jaime said sadly. “It hurt that the woman who I had been falling for thought that I would force myself on anybody.”

Brienne feels like the earth beneath her feet had shifted, like the oxygen in the room has suddenly lessened. Jaime had feelings for her? But that couldn’t be true, he could have anyone…

She looks into his beautiful green eyes and her thoughts of denial at what he’s telling her, suddenly cease. Brienne has been so caught up thinking about her own unrequited affections, that she had willingly blinded herself to see what had been there all along. She wants to say so much, but finds that the words are hopelessly stuck in her throat.

Brienne needs him to know that she feels the same for him.

***

She closes the distance between them and kisses him softly, discovering that his mouth is more wonderful than anything she could have possibly imagined. When she pulls away, he looks at her with surprise etched on his beautiful face. He opens his mouth to speak, but she silences his words with a gentle finger on his lips, enjoying this new closeness that she hasn’t been allowed before.

“I never believed that. Jaime, I was thoughtless and foolish, but I never thought you were that kind of man. You’re honorable, kind and sweet. A bit of an asshole at times, but…” She purposely trails off and gives him a mischievous half-smile.

 He smirks at this. Brienne moves her fingers to his face, brushing them along his sharp jaw. “Everything you are is why…it’s why I fell in love with you.”

Jaime looks at her disbelieving, a look of amazement on his face. “I didn’t know,” he says then, reaching out to brush her lips with his thumb.

“I tried not to show it,” she confesses shyly. “I didn’t want you to think I was ridiculous.”

He laughs, brushing a strand of unruly hair from her face. “The only thing that’s ridiculous is that we’ve both been hiding this from each other.”

Brienne laughs too, feeling an unbridled happiness she’s never known before. She kisses him again, enjoying that she now has this, that she can do this. Jaime looks in her eyes and leans forward to kiss her lips, her eyelids, her neck. Their kisses and caresses become bolder, more daring.

Her bag slips to the floor, unnoticed. The DVD set falls out, the many stories of love, tragedy, and redemption contained inside, just waiting to be told.


End file.
